First Arrivals in St Lucia

Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) 2002

After a fast crossing Ross Daniels took line honours for the second consecutive year in the Farr 65 Spirit of Diana.

Ross benefited from having an experienced crew of amateurs some of whom had sailed with him last year, but all of whom had specifically signed up to sail with Ross after he set a new ARC record last year. Keen to beat his own record Ross commented "Last year Lady in Red gave us someone to really compete with; Liara was a great opponent this year and they got pretty close on several occasions, but being in front I had to work the crew hard to keep us in the lead to the finish. It was a great race, but we're all glad to be here in St Lucia."

Welcomed by a local fleet of sports fishing boats, and a large crowd of officials on the dock, representing the St Lucia Tourist Board, Ministry of Tourism and Rodney Bay Marina, the scene was set with the firing of red very pistol flares as Spirit of Diana crossed the finish line in Rodney Bay with an elapsed time of 12 days 6 hours 32 minutes and 58 seconds.

Second across the line was the Dixon 65, Tony Todd, 5 hours astern; having suffered rudder stock problems for a short time Liara were in good spirits having had to steer with emergency steering for the last six days of the trip to St Lucia.

Arrivals continued through the night, with the first multi hull arriving as dawn broke. Diadem, the Catana 582, sailed by J P Mahlstedt, finished with an elapsed time of 12 days 21 hours 13 minutes. Having blown their spinnaker in the early days of the race, the jennikar blew a few minutes before crossing the finish line.

More arrivals are expected through the night, as Rodney Bay Marina prepares for the influx of the remaining 211 yachts still to finish ARC2002.